Monmouth U. pen pals give Asbury Park students a college connection

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Asbury Park fifth graders met their pen pals at Monmouth University Tuesday after participating in a program that connected them with students, faculty and staff on the West Long Branch campus this school year.

(Christopher Robbins / NJ.com)

WEST LONG BRANCH – The two students were separated by race, class, community and almost a decade of age, but conversed with each other like old friends.

That’s because Kevin Holton, a Monmouth University student from Long Branch, and Kervens Bartheles, a fifth-grader at Asbury Park Middle School, have been pen pals since the beginning of the school year.

“We share a lot of interests and hobbies,” Holton said. “I’ve tried to encourage him to find and follow his interests and keep his grades up.”

Both students participate in a pen pals program organized by The Writing Center at Monmouth University.

“We talk about all sorts of things,” Bartheles said. “I talk about where I’m from and what I like to do, I tell him about my family and school.”

The Asbury Park students, from Kevin Williams’s fifth grade class, met their college-level pen pals Wednesday afternoon after touring the Monmouth University campus.

“We wanted to let the students connect with mentors and an institution of higher learning,” Williams said. “They need to see that this is a possible reality for them, a visit like this puts flesh on it for them.”

The Writing Center’s staff of students, graduates, employees and faculty, were each assigned an individual student to write to.

“We’re doing this to inspire students in two ways,” Neva Lozada, assistant director of writing services and Monmouth University, said. “First, we want them to look ahead to their future, and second, we want them to improve their writing skills. In their letters, the content is driven by their college asiprations.”

Lozada said she came up with the idea after reading a journal article, and that The Writing Center was linked up with Kevin Williams’s fifth graders was a happy coincidence.

“It’s a perfect match,” Lozada said. “It just so happened it worked out that way.”

Asbury Park schools suffer from the second worst high school graduation rate in New Jersey, according to the state Department of Education, more than 50 percent of high school students in the city fail to graduate within four years.

“As children in the city age, there is a fallout from the emphasis on education from the family and community standpoint,” Williams said. “It is not just Asbury Park, it is urban centers across the nation, and that’s the new war, to keep the focus on their future and get them to college.”

Williams said all of his students want to go to college.

Indeed, as the students met their pen pals in the writing, many raised their hand to express their interest in engineering, and asked questions about the university’s programs in education, music and writing.

“These kids might be a little more ready than other fifth graders,” Williams said. “This is an advanced class. I like to bring my kids in and let them make as many connections as I can, and it does make a difference.”

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Bartheles, still more than five years away from college, said he wants to study medicine.

“I want to be a heart surgeon,” Bartheles said. “I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, I’m definitely going to college.”

Holton, who will return to Monmouth in the fall to complete an English degree, said the pen pal program, in it’s first year, should be studied.

“I’ve approached the program coordinator and asked if we can keep track,” Holton said. “I’d like to see if we have an impact down the line.”

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